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Pennsylvania

Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for Pennsylvania.

840Documented
10In custody
552Released
3Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Pennsylvania

Where Pennsylvania’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1930s 260 1700s 79 1910s 76 1920s 73 1960s 69 1800s 61

Documented cases

840 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

D
David Thompson
Released
David Thompson appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft an...
J
James Tod
Released
James Tod appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft and con...
S
Sonny Tongue
Released
Sonny Tongue was listed among imprisoned draft and conscientious resisters in contemporary CCCO reports from 1...
F
Fanny Toohey
Fanny Toohey was an agitprop organizer of the Young Communist League in Pittsburgh. Page 2 reports that she an...
H
Hillary Transue
Hillary Transue was one of the young people whose detention was described in coverage of Pennsylvania’s kids-f...
M
Morris Trasken
Released
Morris Trasken was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
P
Patrick Tully
Released
Patrick Tully was convicted in the October 1868 murder of mining superintendent Alexander Rea and hanged at Bl...
M
Mike Turk
Mike Turk was among the coal-strike defendants named in the July 24 Pittsburgh bulletin published in the Daily...
G
Galen Tyler
Galen Tyler was an economic-rights protest leader reported to have spent a night in custody. Front Line repor...
F
Floyd Tyson
Released
Floyd Tyson was arrested with Charles Starocarski, Charles Skowronski and Violet Lynn at a strike meeting in M...
F
Frederick Urban
Released
Frederick Urban was arrested April 1995 in Scranton, Pennsylvania while driving a van containing explosive dev...
V
Vanora
Vanora was a Paterson silk striker arrested after speaking out on the picket line. A Paterson silk striker na...
J
John Vargo
Released
John Vargo was a coal striker prosecuted in Washington County, Pennsylvania, during the 1931 coal strike. He w...
M
Mike Vargo
Released
Mike Vargo was a coal striker prosecuted in Washington County, Pennsylvania, during the 1931 coal strike. Conv...
S
Steve Vargo
Released
Steve Vargo was a coal striker prosecuted in Washington County, Pennsylvania, during the 1931 coal strike. He...
J
Jerry Venable
Released
Jerry Venable was identified among imprisoned conscientious and antiwar resisters in contemporary peace-moveme...
J
Jack Vill
Jack Vill was one of two young workers detained by Pennsylvania state police in Allentown in connection with t...
P
Paul Vogel
Released
Paul Vogel was from eastern Pennsylvania. Paul Vogel began serving his prison sentence on December 18, 1918, i...
C
Charles Vuich
Charles Vuich was an immigration detainee actually held in Allegheny County jail in 1933. The June 15 Daily Wo...
D
Dionisio Vélez Avilés
Released
Dionisio Vélez Avilés was a Puerto Rican independence supporter imprisoned at Lewisburg. Executive Order 7731...
P
Pete Wagner
Pete Wagner was a defendant in the Washington County, Pennsylvania mine-strike prosecution. The August 28, 193...
P
Peter Wagner
Peter Wagner was named in the detailed Canonsburg coal-strike trial roster concerning the July19,1931 confront...
I
Isaac Walker
Released
Isaac Walker was among the western Pennsylvania men taken into federal custody during the suppression of the W...
M
Mildred Walker
Mildred Walker was arrested for trespass, according to the Pittsburgh dispatch. Page 3's Pittsburgh dispatch...

Institutions in Pennsylvania

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Pennsylvania that appear in the census’s case files.

Fort MifflinPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
48 cases
Allegheny County WorkhouseBlawnox, Pennsylvania
34 cases
Walnut Street JailPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
20 cases
Philadelphia GaolPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
18 cases
United States Penitentiary, LewisburgLewisburg, Pennsylvania
14 cases
Butler County PrisonButler, Pennsylvania
11 cases
FCI AllenwoodWhite Deer, Pennsylvania
10 cases
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas / SCI Pennsylvania state prisonsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
9 cases